The Problem With Harry's Saving People Thing
by Hallenee
Summary: Hermione always said Harry had a need to save people. Harry always said he wanted a family. Snape always said he had sheer dumb luck. When all three collide then the world better watch out!
1. Chapter 1

Harry knew that it was considered rude to speak ill of the dead but he did wonder exactly what Remus Lupin and Nymphodora Tonks were playing at when they decided that in case of their death, _he_ should be the one to get custody of their infant son.

Yes, ok, so technically Tonks' mother Andromeda was meant to help but after the death of her husband and only daughter, she was not in a position to do so and had promptly signed her share of custody to Harry. So now here he was, not even eighteen, not yet finished school and father to a 6-month-old baby. He wondered briefly if he could get Andromeda's custody turned over, as she was quite obviously not in any right mind.

Shuffling around at three in the morning feeding his crying godson with a bottle that Kreacher had provided, Harry really wished that his father's late friend had picked someone else.

The floo flared green and a slim girl with bushy brown hair stepped through dusting off her jeans and T-shirt.

"Morning Harry," she greeted cheerfully. Harry looked up at her and attempted to smile. He was not feeling particularly cheerful this morning. His godson apparently had colic as Mrs Weasley had warned him and Harry had had no sleep.

"Have you registered as Teddy's guardian at the Ministry yet Harry?" Hermione asked, concern for her best friend showing in her voice. She could see he wasn't sleeping well but wasn't sure how to help.

"No, I'll go later on today," Harry said. "Would you like some breakfast?" he said gesturing at the food on the table. Hermione sat down and poured a goblet of orange juice but didn't eat anything. They sat there in companionable silence for a while until the wailing of a baby disrupted the peace of the house. Harry groaned and laid his head on his arms. Hermione squeezed his shoulder as Kreacher came in.

"Master Teddy, sir" Kreacher said depositing the wriggling mass in Harry's arms. Kreacher took one look at Hermione and then fled the kitchen. Harry started to warm a bottle and sat down to feed Teddy.

"I'm going to Australia to find my parents," Hermione finally said into the silence of the room. Harry looked up from the baby in his arms.

"Do you need help?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"No, it's probably better I do this alone,"

Harry nodded.

"If you need money or anything…" Harry trailed off. Hermione smiled at him. "When are you going to leave?"

"This evening, I haven't told the Weasley's yet but I just need to do this. I need my parents back," Hermione said. She stood up, squared her shoulders and move to stand next to Harry. Harry placed Teddy on the table and stood up. Even after his growth spurt, he only stood an inch taller than Hermione.

"I'll miss you," he said at last. "You've always been my best friend. More so than Ron,"

Hermione sniffed and threw her arms around him holding him tight. Harry hugged back with equal fierceness. Having been tempered by years of war, every goodbye felt like it could be the last. Hermione sniffed one more time, nodded and left through the floo with one last look over her shoulder at her first and best friend.

Harry sat down heavily in the table. Teddy grunted and Harry picked him back up and cradled him in his arms. Harry looked down. He supposed Hermione was right; it was time to register as Teddy's guardian.

Harry had attached Teddy to him by way of the muggle sling that Hermione had procured. This kept Teddy up close to him and allowed him to floo into the atrium at the Ministry of Magic. The atrium had finished the renovations now but building noises could be heard throughout the building.

The welcome witch had smiled happily at Hero Potter and directed him towards Children's Services with a flirtatious smile.

On the way to the right office, Teddy had started crying again and Harry pulled him out the sling to hold him in his arms. This was how he entered the office of the harassed witch that ran Children's Services. She took one look at him and sighed.

"You need to take the orphans to St Mungo's before registering them here," she said before returning to the paperwork she was explaining to the couple in front of her who were obviously doing just that. Harry stuttered.

"This is my godson," he explained gesturing to the crying baby. "I need to register as his guardian."

The elderly witch looked at him doubtfully but with the overload of orphans she had come through, she was just glad not to add to the children she needed to look after. Getting the required paperwork out from the first drawer of her desk, she passed it over to Harry.

"Fill in the appropriate parts and sign please. I need three copies." The witch said before turning to greet a man who had five children trailing behind them.

"You need to take the children to St Mungo's before coming here to register the paperwork," Harry heard the women sigh.

"St Mungo's refuses to take them," the man said gruffly. Harry looked up. The man had two boys and two girls behind him. The oldest girl had a baby in her arms. All looked scared, tired and hungry. It had been a month since the war had ended so he supposed they must have been living off scraps. "They said they have too many and they've run out of space,"

Harry heard the elderly witch sigh and he took a closer look at her. She was older than Molly Weasley and Professor McGonagall but not as old as Griselda Marchbanks, then again, very few people were. She looked as tired as Harry felt and he felt sorry for her. Many people were killed in the war so there were probably a number of children now looking for homes.

"You best fill in this paperwork then. Children come here. If you sit in that office there I'll see if I can find somewhere for you." The woman sighed again and passed the man a stack of paperwork.

"I'll take them," Harry spoke up before the children had made it to the room. They turned and looked at him and Harry felt his heart constrict at the heartbroken looks on their faces. "I'll take them." He said again with more force.

"Are you sure Mr. ?" the witch said.

"Potter. I'm Harry Potter. I have enough money to never work again and I have the help of a house elf. I'll take them." Harry said to her. The man who had brought the children in slid the completed paperwork over the counter and left without looking back. The elderly witch sighed again. She really had no other options and couldn't afford to turn down a willing home. Besides, he was Hero Potter so she could guarantee that they'd be treated right.

Removing more paperwork from the drawer, she called the children over to her. The girls made their way forwards whilst the boys were more hesitant.

"Can you tell me your names, how old you are and what your parents were called?" she asked them. The eldest girl spoke up. Harry looked over her closely. She had an aristocratic look to her and would probably grow up to be quite beautiful. She had what was probably brown hair but now matted and black. She was dressed in robes, tattered as they were, so she was probably a pureblood.

"I'm Octavia Harrow," she said. "This is my sister Arianne and Ursula. I'm seven, Ursula is four and Arianne is a year old. Our parents are, were Tabitha and Darius Harrow,"

Well, Harry thought, that made sense then. They were the children of dead death eaters.

"I'm afraid your parents were killed," the elderly witch said to them as gently as possible. The eldest shrugged. She had already guessed that. The baby had no recollection of her parents, not really. It was Ursula who didn't really understand but then she would probably forget about her parents in time. The elderly witch gestured to the boys. Both were probably blonde underneath the dirt and looked too thin to be healthy. They were in jeans and t-shirts so probably halfbloods. Harry briefly wondered if he'd have to negotiate blood purity issues on top of caring for his six new children.

"I'm Tom. This is James," the eldest said. "I'm eight, he's six. We were in Diagon Alley when our parents were killed. They were Hank and Lisa Kibbs."

The elderly witch finished scratching out their answers and handed the forms to Harry to sign. He did so, in triplicate.

"You're all done Mr Potter," the witch said. Harry looked at his new charges. Clothes shopping first it would seem.

"Follow me then," he said tucking Teddy into the sling about him and taking Arianne from her sister. He moved back through the Ministry towards the portkey desk. There was no way he would get this many children through the floo and he didn't dare apparate.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry left the portkey area of the alley and walked towards Eclectic Alley to get some clothing for his new charges. Entering into a children's clothing store he stopped to watch the looks on the kids' faces. Even the girls looked astounded by this place despite probably coming from a life of comfort. Of course, they had been alone for a month since their parents were killed and he doubted they had changed clothes.

"Go and pick a toy each if you'd like," Harry offered to the children before moving off to the shelves. He pulled down three pairs of jeans for each child. He didn't know what the girls would prefer wearing but jeans were hard wearing and they would have to come shopping again when he had some time. He then moved to the tops and grabbed a range of sizes and a rainbow of colours. Socks and pants were easy for the boys but he had to ask the sales woman for help for the girls. The witch working in the shop also fitted the children for new shoes whilst Harry picked out simple black robes

Grabbing a few books off a shelf near the counter, Harry paid for his purchases and made his way towards the door. The children had been both shy and clingy as he moved around the store. Unwilling to talk to him and yet unwilling to let their first chance of stability leave them alone.

Harry entered the house with the six children in tow. He led them up to the first floor.

"My bedroom is on the left hand side," he said to their eager faces. "Teddy sleeps in there with me and so will Arianne. Tom, James – would you like to share the room opposite mine?"

The two boys nodded, clinging to each other. Harry sighed and pushed open the door to their new room. The boys went in with their small bags on their shoulders. Harry gestured to the closest and they started putting their meagre possessions away. Next, he moved down the corridor to the room next door to his.

"Ursula, Octavia this will be your room. Would you like me to put a door through to my room in case you need me in the night?"

The two little girls nodded before entering the room. Harry followed and created a doorway between the two bedrooms. The girls both climbed onto one of the two single beds in the room. Harry left them to settle in and conjured a new crib to match Teddy's in his room. Placing both toddlers in their cribs for a nap he went downstairs to the kitchens. He didn't know if he was more afraid of telling his friends about the new additions to the family or his elf.

Kreacher was in his room off the kitchen but came out as Harry came into the kitchen. Harry sat down with a sigh. Kreacher looked worried.

"I have some news Kreacher. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew," Harry said into his palms. Kreacher was more worried. His master had defeated the evilest dark lord and was worried about what he had now done.

"We have some visitors for a while," Harry finally said looking at the old elf.

"How long will they be staying?" Kreacher asked, after all he would need to adjust the groceries accordingly, especially given how much the redhead ate.

"Indefinitely," Harry replied sighing again.

"As long as master's mudblood does not try to free Kreacher," the old elf sneered.

"No it is not Hermione and Ron, Kreacher. Although I do wish that you would use their names or even different titles for them," Harry said resigned to the fact that old habits die hard and he would probably be forever fighting this battle with Kreacher, "I met our guests when I went to register for guardianship of Teddy. Three sisters and two brothers. The eldest is eight and the youngest just a bit older than Teddy. The girls' parents were death eaters killed in the final battle. The boys' parents were killed by death eaters in Diagon alley,"

Kreacher now understood what his master meant when he said he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Six children in one house would be a lot of work for a married couple but for a young boy with no experience of any family and one old elf it would be an awfully large challenge. They would need more elves. And lots of groceries.

Harry sat in the silence of the kitchen for a moment longer before deciding that he best make sure his charges were alright. His stomach growled and he wondered whether it would be better to bath the filthy children or feed them first. He supposed he would ask.

Knocking on Tom and James' room first, he stuck his head round the door and saw the two boys sat on their bed.

"Hi guys," Harry said running a hand through his messy hair. "Do you wanna have a bath or some lunch first?"

"Could we have some lunch first please Mister," James said looking as if Christmas morning had come early. Harry wondered how long they had been fending for themselves and when they had last eaten. It took him back to his childhood with the Dursleys far too forcibly for his liking and Harry vowed that he would treat these kids far better than he was.

"Sure, I'll just go get the girls and then we can go down to the kitchen for some food," Harry smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. The boys followed him as he went through to the girls' room.

"Would you like some lunch?" he said kindly. Both looked up and nodded. As he led the four children back down to the kitchen, Harry cursed himself for offering to take them. He had no experience with children and no idea what they needed or wanted. On top of that all of them would need some kind of counselling about their parents deaths and what had happened to them since. He didn't even know how they had survived for a month since the final battle but he could guess that it wasn't by stroking puppies and eating sweets.

By the time they had reached the ground floor and entered the kitchen, Harry had come to the end of his self-depreciating rant and he set to fixing up a light lunch of toast and tomato soup. He knew that after his starvation at the Dursley house that too much rich food would make him feel ill so he put the same principles into practice here. Placing a bowl before each child, he sat at the head of the table and started to eat his own soup. The children looked at the food warily before temptation gave in and all four dove in greedily.

"Hey guys, the food isn't going to disappear. You can slow down and it'll still be there. If you eat too fast you'll make yourself feel ill," Harry cautioned, although by this point it was somewhat pointless as most of the food was gone. James finished the food first and let out a huge burp followed by a giggle from everyone but Octavia who glared. Even Harry quirked a smile.

"Time for a bath guys?" Harry asked as everyone sat there stuffed. He received cheeky grins from the boys and shy smiles from the girls. "Do you need me to help or are you all gonna be alright on your own? You each have a bathroom off your bedroom and my house elf has probably stocked up on bubble baths and stuff."

The boys quickly agreed that they'd be fine on their own. Harry made a note to send Kreacher in to make sure they were really clean. If the old elf had managed to look after Sirius when he was younger then these two should be a breeze for him.

"Would you wash my hair like Papa used to?" little Ursula asked Harry. Octavia hissed and elbowed her sister in the side. Harry noticed this and filed it away to think about later.

"How about we see if your sister can help you first and I'll do whatever she can't?" Harry said looking Octavia in the eyes. Her eyes narrowed in thought and when she gave a short nod, Harry let loose the breath he was holding.

"That sounds okay," Urusla said, completely oblivious to the conversation being held over her head. The four children jumped down from the table and made their way upstairs to their bathrooms.

"Kreacher has already run baths master," the old elf said from beside Harry, shocking him out of his reverie.

"Thanks Kreacher. What would I do without you?" Harry sighed before standing up to start washing the dishes. Kreacher slapped his wrist away and levitated the plates to the sink.

"Master not be doing that or else Kreacher be out of a job," the elf huffed as he did the dishes. Harry smiled. At least some things in his life would remain constant after the ever changing last few months.

"I need you to check in on the boys for me Kreacher. They reckon they can clean themselves but I don't think they've washed in at least a month. I think you're probably best qualified to look after them." Harry said whilst watching his elf busy about the kitchen. He glanced up at the clock and started to prepare a bottle of feed for Teddy. He wasn't sure if Arianne was on solid food yet so he best ask Octavia before waking them up. And he would need a highchair for feeding.

Harry put his head in his hands again. There was so much to do. Why on this earth did he agree to this?

A shout from upstairs got his attention and he shot up from his chair. He stopped in his bedroom to scoop up a now crying Teddy and Arianne before moving into the girls' bathroom where he heard shrieking noises. Inside the girls were splashing each other with bubbles in the large bathtub. Both looked much cleaner and Octavia appeared to have sorted out their hair to the best of her abilities.

"You girls ok in here?" Harry asked needlessly. They both turned and Harry was pleased to see genuine smiles on their faces. "If you're all done then there are some new towels in that cupboard over there. I'm going to take these two downstairs for some food. Is Arianne still having a bottle or is she on baby food yet?"

"Mummy feeds her mush!" Ursula exclaimed before giggling. Octavia smiled and climbed out the bath to get some towels. Harry nodded, pleased that everything was ok and then made his way downstairs. As he passed the boys bedroom he could hear Kreacher scolding the boys for not cleaning properly. Harry's laughter echoed through the house.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry had just sat Arianne in a conjured highchair with some mash potato mixed with tomato soup and was settling down to feed Teddy his bottle when the floo flared to life and an irate red head stormed out.

"HAVE YOU HEARD WHAT HERMIONE IS PLANNING TO DO?" Ron exploded without even registering who was in the kitchen. Harry jumped, Teddy started crying even harder and Arianne joined in in harmony.

"Nice to see you too Ron. Yeah I'm fine thanks, how are you? No I'm not doing much, just looking after a small baby who enjoys peace and quiet when he isn't crying," Harry growled out rocking Teddy in his arms and trying to soothe Arianne at the same time. Ron remained oblivious to Harry's annoyance and flung himself into a chair.

"She's going out to Australia! This evening!" he huffed. "She gave no one any warning at all. How selfish can she be? We're busy grieving and then she ups and goes like this."

Harry shook his head. How was it he never realised quite how self-obsessed Ron was?

"How many people do you have to grieve with?" Harry asked Ron.

"Well, I don't know" Ron sputtered. Harry continued.

"You have both your parents still. Yes it sucks that your brother died. He was a good man. But he was the only loss in your family and you have each other. Hermione's parents don't even remember her. She has no one. Dear Merlin, I would give _anything_ to have my parents or Sirius or Remus back again but I never can! Wouldn't you get Fred back if you could? 'Mione has that chance and all you can do is complain about it." Harry raged. Ron looked shocked. To be fair, Harry thought, it was probably one of the few times that Harry had ever shouted at Ron but really, could this boy be anymore insensitive?

Ron sat down again. He looked around the room finally and realised that there was another young child in the room.

"Where'd the squirt come from?" he asked.

"She came in with some other kids whilst I was registering Teddy," Harry said with a sigh. He could just tell what was coming now. Out of the frying pan and into the fire indeed. "There was nowhere else to go so I took them in. I'm their new guardian, all five of them."

"What do you mean you adopted other kids?" Ron yelled pushing himself out of his chair again. Harry was blinded by rage. Ron dared to come into his house to yell about their best female friend wanting to get back some semblance of normality and now he wanted to question Harry's choices. Okay so Harry admitted to himself he was questioning them himself but his friends were meant to be supportive dammit. On the edge of his perception, he could hear the children shuffling into the kitchen, scared by the noise and the thought of being abandoned again. "How are you meant to marry Ginny if you have other children?"

Wait a sec, Harry thought. What the hell did that have to do with…?

"Marry Ginny? I'm not even _dating_ Ginny at the moment. We split up a year ago and neither she nor I have made any move at getting back together again yet!"

"But we all know you're going to get married!" Ron exclaimed.

"Really? I thought you thought divination was nonsense?" Harry shouted. "If, and I do mean if, me and Ginny got back together again then it would only be if she could cope with being a mother to my children. Teddy is mine no matter what and I will not give up Tom, James, Octavia, Ursula or Arianne unless the Minister himself demands it!"

"But what about Auror training. Are you going to turn your back on that? On me?" Ron bellowed.

"When did I ever say I would be an Auror?" Harry asked. "I was only fifteen when I wanted that. That was before the war, before I knew what it really meant."

Ron went an extra shade of red.

"Get out my house Ron," Harry said deflating. "Come back when we can talk rationally."

Ron took one last look at Harry, huffed and stormed back through the floo that he had come through. Harry sat down heavily in the car that Ron had vacated and gestured the kids towards him. Octavia caved first and dove into his arms.

"Were you telling the truth Mister?" she asked into his chest.

"My name's Harry. And yeah, nothing and no one will take you away from me unless you want it." Harry said hugging her close. All the while thinking to himself 'what on this earth _have_ I gotten myself into now…'.

The new family sat in silence in the kitchen for a few moments before Harry had the presence of mind to shut the floo off before Ron told his mother. The last thing he needed on this day was the Weasley Matriarch on his case. Deciding that maybe now would be a good time to get to know the kids that were for all intents and purposes now his, he cleaned Arianne with a wave of his hand and levitated the two tots into the living room. Teddy quite enjoyed it so he correctly assumed Arianne would too.

"Now children, you know that I am your new guardian," Harry started. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this but, as he had promised when he was arguing with Ron, he wasn't going to let them go to a place where they were unwanted. "You can call me Harry. I have a house elf. His name is Kreacher. Tom and James, I think you might have met him in the bath earlier."

Tom and James looked at each other and grinned.

"He was well strict. But we splashed him anyway," Tom declared shoving his hands into his jeans pockets and pushing his chest out. Harry laughed when Kreacher took that moment to come in muttering about young hellions.

"Girls, this is Kreacher. Kreacher this is Tom and James Kibbs who you've met," Harry paused to stifle a laugh at the look on Kreacher's face at the thought of the two young boys. "And these two beauties here are Octavia and Ursula Harrow. The youngest here is Arianne."

Kreacher nodded. He didn't know who the Kibbs family were but the Harrow family was one of Narcissa's friends. He would tell his master that later. Although given the look on his masters face he was about to be sent to do something he didn't want to do. Perhaps he should break out the broad beans for dinner. His master particularly hated those.

"Kreacher," Harry paused. He was likely to end up being served broad beans for what he was about to ask but it needed to be done. "I know you're not Hermione's greatest fan but she had an argument with Ron earlier," Well, Kreacher thought, that explained the shouting earlier, the blood traitor would want to share his outrage. "And she's leaving for Australia this evening so could you go and make sure that she's okay?" Kreacher wanted to sigh but that wasn't proper elf manners. He wanted to scream too. The mudblood was kindly but she just didn't understand proper customs. And she was always giving him her horrendous knitting. At least she would be going away for a while. Although he'd rather have her and the blood traitor's laundry (he shuddered) than the six hellions he'd received instead. He would get some more elves after visiting the mudblood.

After Kreacher had left, Harry turned back to the children.

"Now, you all know where we'll be sleeping. And you have some new clothes to last you until we've settled down a bit and can go shopping properly. I bought some more books and there's a library here as well. I'll ward the bookshelves. If you can't take a book down then it isn't suitable for you. Is there anything else?" Harry asked. The children shook their heads. "If you want to talk to me about anything then I'm always here. I'm slowly cleaning and redecorating this house but I'll start working on the garden so we can play outside." The children looked at Harry. "Well, that's about all I can think of. Do you want to go play and I'll call you before dinner?" he asked, blessedly relieved when the children scurried off to do just that and he was left with two babies to entertain. He'd gotten good at that in the past month.

Harry had Teddy and Arianne giggling on the play mat in the living room when Kreacher returned an hour later. Hastily erecting a ward to keep the babies on the mat and definitely nowhere near the fireplace whilst he was distracted, Harry turned to Kreacher.

"Master's mudblood be thankful that Master is so caring," Kreacher sneered. "So thankful, master's mudblood be _hugging_ Kreacher." The poor old elf had such a look of distaste that it took all Harry's occulmency skills to avoid laughing and even then he was forced to smile. "Kreacher also took the liberty of placing a Gringott's card linked to Master's account in mudblood's purse. Just in case," Harry thanked every deity he knew of for receiving this old elf. Kreacher may have had a bad relationship with Sirius but Harry had realised that Sirius' treatment of elves wasn't much different than Lucius Malfoy's. Harry still loved his second father but the pedestal Sirius had occupied crumbled as Harry matured.

"Thanks Kreacher," Harry said.

"Kreacher also found helpers for the, _children._" Even Harry could hear the meaning behind that and smiled. Tom and James must have done more than just splash in the bathroom. "Kreacher is glad Master finds this so amusing," the elf muttered and Harry tried to look serious. Obviously, he did a poor job as the elf grumbled under his breath.

Kreacher snapped his fingers and three elves popped into the room. He gestured to the first one, a youngish looking elf to Harry but then, he didn't really know much beyond the three he was acquainted with. She was wearing a pillowcase like a dress and looked similar to Winky.

"This be Nanna." Harry nodded. "Nanna be looking after young Master Teddy and Mistress Arianne," Kreacher informed Harry. Next he gestured to the second elf. "This be Hoopy. She be looking after Mistresses Octavia and Ursula." Hoopy looked to be almost as old as Kreacher and wore a teacloth like a toga. Finally, Kreacher introduced the last new elf. "This be Oakey. Oakey be helping with Masters Tom and James as well as be helping with the garden." Harry smiled. Kreacher was brilliant inside the house but Harry had finally gotten him to admit that his body was too old for much gardening work. Harry had been putting off the thought of doing the garden. Using Teddy's naps to catch up on the sleep he had been deprived the night before hadn't helped in the garden's favour either.

"Thank you Kreacher. Welcome to your new home," Harry addressed the new elves. "I want you to be comfortable so please wear what you want. Just make sure it's clean and neat." Almost as soon as he said that, Harry regretted it. Hoopy and Nanna looked like they were going to cry. When Harry had raised the issue of a uniform with Kreacher, he had been severely told off. Crying was different. Deciding to ignore it and let Kreacher deal with the problem later he ploughed on, "Kreacher sleeps in a room off the kitchen but you can each have a room where you want. I can add a room off the children's if that is easier for you?" Uh oh, the crying seemed to intensify. Harry looked to Kreacher for help and received a very unelf-like smirk in return. "Kreacher can show you round and then you can let me know. I'm going to start dinner" Harry said opting to run away.

'Dark Wizards you face down in droves but children and crying house elves and you run away Potter' he berated himself. Entering the kitchen, he walked over to the fridge to see if they actually had anything to make dinner with, as he hadn't gotten around to doing the grocery shopping yet. He hated using the magical food shops and most muggle supermarkets would find a seventeen year old shopping for food with six young children in tow very weird indeed. Upon opening, he discovered that Kreacher must have done it for him because there was a family sized packet of chicken breasts and some runner beans. And broad beans. 'I knew he'd get me back' Harry thought.

"Master is a coward," Kreacher announced popping next to Harry.

"Aren't house-elves meant to be well behaved and submissive?" Harry questioned the old elf who was looking at him with a mixture of amusement and irritation. Kreacher harrumphed and waved the question away. "Thanks for doing the shopping Kreacher."

"Kreacher's job to do shopping," the elf grumped. Harry smiled.

"Yeah but thanks anyway. And for getting some more elves. Where'd you get them from anyway?"

"Elf store." Harry looked at him scandalised. Kreacher inwardly sighed. It was just his luck he got a naïve muggle raised master and was therefore forced to spend time alternatively explaining Wizarding customs and avoiding the mudblood's well-meant attempts to stop them. "Elves with no homes be going to the elf store in Knockturn Alley. It be more like a hotel. Elves go and other elves be finding them if their masters and mistresses be needing new elves. Most masters and mistresses be asking but as yous be… unaware, Kreacher be finding good elves for Master." Kreacher braced himself for yet another round of thanks. Why Master couldn't be just accepting that Kreacher be doing his job Kreacher never could understand.

"Thanks Kreacher. I don't know where I'd be without you," Harry turned his back to the elf and went back to digging out rice so he missed Kreacher's glare. "Did the elves decide on where they want their rooms yet?" Harry asked grinning triumphantly as he moved a box of cereal (chocolate coated, Kreacher did indeed love him) and found a family sized bag of rice.

"Elves be too busy tearing up at kind, kind master," Kreacher grumbled as he levitated a pan of water to the cooker. "Master should be treating elves with normal wizard behaviour until they bes settled enough for" the old elf paused, "Master's unique approach" he decided upon. Harry wasn't quite sure whether to laugh at being ordered about by a being that regarded himself as a servant or be suitably chastised. Some days Kreacher seemed far more like a parent to him than anything else.

"I don't think I could be so mean Kreacher," Harry settled on as he grilled the chicken, "And do we have to have broad beans?"

"Full of goodness," Kreacher grunted in response. He was never this badly behaved as a youngling. Not ever! And his Master hadn't been subjected to the things he had available to eat as an elfling. He shuddered. Then jumped as an unholy shriek tore through the house. 'Master Teddy is awake again then,' he thought.

"Bugger, Kreacher can you tend the chicken please?" Harry said moving to the sink to wash his hands.

"Nanna be doing her job," Kreacher reminded him with a look that suggested Kreacher had spent far too much time with Snape. Harry looked torn. Teddy was his, well son really, and yet he couldn't cope with making the nice elf cry again today. He was saved from having to act as Nanna popped into the kitchen with Teddy in her arms. Kreacher levitated a bottle to her from the fridge whilst Harry watched awed at the powerful magic from such little beings. And people wondered why he treated elves with such respect!

"Now, now Master Teddy," the pretty young elf cooed at the screaming infant. Harry wondered if she cast some kind of elf magic on him because he soon settled down and sucked on his bottle quietly.

"Should I go and get Arianne Nanna?" Harry asked whilst Kreacher shot him a disapproving look. Harry couldn't see what was wrong with offering his help. After all the children were his responsibility and he had enough trouble carrying both toddlers and he was easily twice as high as Nanna. Nanna looked startled at the sight of her Master cooking in tandem with his butler. Perhaps she shouldn't have accepted this job but the thought of working with young children again had been so appealing that the warning of having a less than traditional master had been ignored.

"Hoopy be looking after Arianne whilst Oakey be looking after big children," Nanna replied. Harry nodded and turned back to his cooking. He trusted Kreacher with his life, had done literally in fact, so if he had chosen these elves then he could trust them with his children. His children, the thought made him smile. All he had ever wanted was a family and now he had made one for himself, even if in a spur of the moment, _crazy_ decision. Whilst waiting for the chicken breasts to finish cooking on the other side, he turned his attention to the table. Whilst there were now enough family members to eat in the dining room, he much preferred the cosy atmosphere of the kitchen. Waving his wand, the table expanded so there was space for 6 small beings both sides of the table. He also lowered it by six inches so that the children could easily reach it without needing booster seats. Next, he transfigured the dining chairs into four shortish benches like the type at Hogwarts. Far more relaxed. Turning back to the chicken he removed the meat from the grill and placed a warming charm over them whilst he cooked the second half of the pack. With excellent teamwork, the food would all be finished about the same time and they could sit down to eat.

"Kreacher will tell children to wash for supper," the old elf said before popping upstairs and moments later popping back. It had not been lost on him quite how much Harry had expanded the table and expected, although really hoped that his Master had learnt some decorum and so would refrain from, being asked to sit at the dining table. On the one hand, he was immensely pleased at the trust and respect shown to him by his Master. However, he had had years of strange and different treatments from strange and different people and was able to withstand whatever was thrown at him. Case in point – Master's mudblood. These new elves though, Hoopy was the same age as him but had spent all her time with one family until her Mistress had become old and died. Nanna was still a young elf but had been raised in a very traditional household. Then there was Oakey, an elf from Hogwarts who was looking for a change after the war. He would be the most receptive but even so, he worked outside and not within the kitchens at the mercies of the students. Still, Kreacher thought to himself whilst turning his attention back to the rice, they'll get used to it in time.

Just as Harry was turning the last chicken breast onto the plate, the children came marching into the kitchen. Both boys were grinning whilst Octavia scowled and Ursula hid a small giggle. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to ask but smiled at the children.

"Hi guys, do you want to take a seat at the table? Leave a space next to the highchairs but you can sit anywhere you want," Harry gestured across at the object in question. He had placed the highchairs in the middle of the table between the two benches either side. He knew that Kreacher had already figured out his plan and would scold him for it later but traditions be damned, he'd start his own in this household. The children scurried up onto the benches, the two boys taking one each whilst Ursula sat next to Octavia. Harry took Arianne from Hoopy and placed her in the highchair next to Octavia. Nanna took this as a sign to place Teddy in the other. As they helped Kreacher set the table, Harry introduced part two of his plan. After all, Kreacher had just placed the extra settings needed for it. Even if he had looked heavenwards after Harry beamed at him.

"Kreacher, if you could take the seat at the end of the table please," Harry started but stopped when Nanna dropped the glasses she was holding. If not for a quick cushioning charm, they would have shattered.

"That's so cool Mister Harry," Tom said. The other children nodded. Even Octavia looked slightly less frozen. Summoning the glasses he levitated one to each place and added a strengthening charm. Children and glass didn't seem a good mix really, Harry mused, have to add plastic beakers to the shopping list.

"Now, Hoopy, Nanna, I don't know which baby you'd prefer but if you could each help feed one then I'd appreciate it," Harry said whilst waving at the spaces next to the highchairs. Child sized seats made perfect elf height seats too. "And Oakey, do you want to take this spare bench here?" Although worded as questions and requests, all three elves could feel the bond magic pull them to fulfil their Master's wishes. Kreacher's totally blank face suggesting that he had perhaps a little more power than he let on. Although it did remind him of yet another aspect of the Wizarding world he would have to educate his master on that was taken as just known by anyone who grew up in this world.

"Why are the servants eating with us?" Octavia asked. Ursula frowned at her and poked her in the ribs. Octavia turned a glare onto her. Harry just sighed softly. Given his adolescence, he could see the act as what it was, trying to be in control in an unfamiliar environment.

"Whilst the elves in this house may _help_ us, they are powerful individuals in their own rights and we should respect them," Harry started slowly and carefully. He didn't think Octavia truly believed they were below her, Ursula certainly didn't and given the way Octavia interacted with the elves earlier she hadn't given any indication but being the eldest now she was probably trying to act grown up and repeat what she had heard her parents say. "They are as much a part of this family as any of us even though they are different creatures. As such, they are just as entitled to the food in this house or clothing or time to rest." He broke off to look at all the children now. Tom and James didn't seem too fussed by his speech so either had a liberal household or no house elves. After all, the Weasley family had never had an elf and they were old pureblood. Ursula smiled and Octavia looked a little red faced. The toddlers just giggled in their chairs, Arianne with rice over her face and Teddy sucking on a bottle. "No matter what, everyone in this family, be they human, house elf or, I don't know, dragon, will be accepted as this table, ok?" Harry finished to the laughter of three children. He smiled at Octavia who gave him a shy smile in return. 'Know who to talk to first then' he thought.


	4. Chapter 4

After dinner, still quiet but with a little more chatter than lunch, mostly from Tom and James discussing the cool Wizarding books, Kreacher had directed Harry and the children to the library where Harry had read them a tale from a muggle fairy tale book Hermione had given him years ago. That was until Ursula yawned and Harry could see Hoopy hovering behind the children. He read to the end of the page and marked the place in the book.

"Bath time," he said before being drowned out by protests from James.

"But we already had one today!"

"And you shall have another one," Kreacher's gravelly voice spoke from behind them making the boys jump. Both boys sighed in resignation at their untimely fate. They shuffled off after Oakey whilst Hoopy led both girls to their bathroom. Nanna had already popped out leaving just Harry and Kreacher in the library. Harry stretched out on the sofa whilst Kreacher sat on the child-sized armchair Harry had found when flicking through a muggle home furnishings catalogue at the train station after the war finished. Getting Kreacher to use it though had required a direct order.

"Reckon we can pull this off Kreacher?" Harry asked looking at him. The old elf looked pensive and more than a little tired. "Did you get any sleep last night Kreacher?" The old elf waved his hand in a dismissive motion that was becoming more and more frequent in his dealings with Harry. Worry aside, Harry felt some kind of triumph for slowly battling Kreacher down to a relationship of equals.

"You need to go shopping Master," Kreacher said finally. "Wizarding toys and clothes I can do but that catalogue you found, ask the children what furniture they'd like in their rooms. Muggles have better choice."

"Did you just compliment muggles Kreacher?" Harry teased amused. Kreacher had raised a good point though; he was meant to be renovating the house but had been side tracked by caring for Teddy. Whilst he didn't want to neglect the children, having the elves meant that they now had five responsible beings able to take care of them so work could pick up speed. Especially as elf magic was far more powerful than what he had access to. No wonder the small minded purebloods kept them subjugated. Giving the children some different catalogues to pick their own furniture would let them begin to feel like they belonged here and some sense of security that Harry wouldn't abandon them. Which raised another point.

"What do you think of Octavia Kreacher?"

"She be scared," Kreacher started glaring when Harry gave him a 'tell me something I don't know' look. "Her parents were friends with Narcissa."

"I had assumed something like that," Harry nodded.

"I don't think she be really thinking what she's be saying at dinner. Elf rumour says that Harrow elf be going missing after deaths of Harrow Master and Mistress. Elf rumour say missing elf be staying with children after elf bond break," Kreacher said in a tone that suggested that Harry should know what he was talking about. He didn't.

"So why shouldn't the elf have stayed with the girls?" Harry asked leaning forward. Just because he didn't know what he was meant to know didn't mean that he didn't know that there was something important in this conversation.

"Elf without bond withers and dies. Elf can postpone by doing little but elves be dying if not bonded," Kreacher said slowly as if talking to a child. Harry sometimes wondered if it irritated Kreacher having to do what his father or Dumbledore or Sirius or Remus should have done years and years ago.

"But wait, what about Hogwarts? Or the elf shop? Or," Harry couldn't complete the sentence.

"Hogwarts be giving off magical energy. And so be Knockturn and Diagon Alleys," Kreacher said.

"But you survived for years and years," Harry said. Kreacher gave him the look again.

"What state be house in Master? Also Kreacher be bonded to Lord Black so when title changes so be bond. And much magic in old house with nasty artefacts," Kreacher explained. Harry nodded thinking he was starting to understand a little. The house elves lived off the magic of the human they were bonded to but could substitute any magic, for a time. In the case of Hogwarts it was the magic of all the students and professors casting almost every day. And it explained why Kreacher didn't keep the house in good condition because Sirius would have needed most of his magic in Azkaban so Kreacher was running on minimum requirements.

"So without being bonded and in a low magical area, the Harrow elf that stayed to look after the girls probably died because they were working all the time and not resting?" Harry offered looking at Kreacher for confirmation that he had understood properly. Kreacher nodded. 'Master might be naïve but at least he's not a simpleton'. "Which would explain how they survived for a month since their parents were killed," Harry continued his thoughts out loud.

Kreacher shook his head. "Elf not be surviving whole month with little Mistress' magic, especially as not be bonded," The old elf looked sad at the thought of a fellow being who had died to serve their family. Devotion to duty to the end. Although why the elf hadn't alerted anyone to three young children was puzzling. Harry sat lost in his own thoughts, although they echoed his second most trusted friend. And that brought him back to another point, Ron and the rest of the Weasley's. Whilst Ron was his first friend, Harry could honestly say that Kreacher was closer to him at the moment. After the abandonment on The Hunt and then his self-absorbed rant earlier Harry was rather wondering what exactly Harry was going to get from their continued friendship. It was kind of saddening to think that the close friendship they had had through school was because of enforced proximity rather than having a genuine understanding but Harry supposed that people just grew up differently from each other and maybe without being together all the time there would be some natural distance. He certainly didn't want to be forced into marrying Ginny just to keep Ron's friendship. Perhaps that told Harry everything he needed to know. Both males were so lost in their thoughts that they startled when Hoopy popped in.

"Children be going to bed now Master," she said deferentially. He might have some odd ideas but he still remained her Master and she would treat him as such.

"Excellent, I'll go up and say good night then. Did you decide where you want your room? I'd rather do it before the children are asleep," Harry asked.

"Elves be sharing elf quarters near kitchen," Hoopy replied. Harry frowned.

"What elf quarters? There's on Kreacher's room off the kitchen. Wait, that isn't meant to be for _all_ of you is it? That won't do at all. There's no privacy and no space. You'll each have to pick somewhere else," Harry replied firmly daring them to contradict him. Although, Kreacher hadn't looked too keen on the idea of sharing the space. He had rather got used to the size of it after almost two decades.

"Then Hoopy would like room off Mistress Octavia and Mistress Ursula's room Master," Hoopy replied. It would be easier for her to be near her charges. And she was starting to feel her age a little.

"Excellent, I'll go sort it now. Do you reckon Nanna and Oakey will want to be off the other rooms?" Harry asked.

"Nanna has moved youngest children to separate room to create Nursery. She be wanting room there," Hoopy said. Harry nodded. He tried to fight down his glee at no longer sharing a room with a screaming toddler but found he didn't really care if it made him a bad person.

"And Oakey?" Harry asked whilst still trying not to smile so much.

"Oakey be making a room in garden shed." Hoopy replied.

"No. Absolutely not. Never. Over my dead body!" Harry exclaimed standing. Kreacher sat in his chair looking heavenwards at his masters' latest outburst. If he had to calm one more crying elf today he would mutiny. "No elf of mine will be relegated to a _shed_. They will have proper rooms with proper furniture. Oakey shall simply have to choose somewhere else!" With that he strode upstairs to create the rooms for the other two elves.

After their master had left the room Hoopy looked at Kreacher. Kreacher just shrugged.

"Yous be getting used to him."

"Hey boys," Harry said popping his head around the door. Both boys were bundled up in bed with grins. "Oakey, where do you want your room? Off here?" Oakey nodded. He had suggested the garden shed but Kreacher had warned him it probably wouldn't work that way with Master Harry. A wave of his wand later and a door appeared in the wall.

"That's awesome cool Mister Harry!" James exclaimed, if somewhat sleepily. Tom nodded his head but was close to drifting off.

"Can you conjure some furniture for tonight? I'll get some real stuff tomorrow." Harry asked Oakey.

"Yes Master Harry," Oakey said in a somewhat low voice for a house elf.

As Harry was leaving the boys room, Nanna popped in front of him.

"The nursery be this way Master Harry," she said leading the way further down the corridor. Harry was half tempted to suggest moving his room up a floor and making the first floor just for the children. In for a penny, in for a pound after all and as he'd gotten rid of the baby – wait that sounded somewhat wrong – had been relieved of the baby? – anyway, as the baby was no long in his room perhaps he should go all out and really make an adults bedroom. It would be something to consider. Perhaps he could move Kreacher to a whole bedroom on the same floor to get his own back for the broad beans. He'd hate to be treated so deferentially…

His musing was cut off as he stepped inside the nursery. What had been a dark room on his 'to do list' (a list that never seemed to ever get shorter…) was now a light and airy room perfect for the two toddlers. With a rainbow painted across one wall and the floor lightened to a honey coloured wood it was a far cry from the previous incarnation. He was so getting the elves to do the rest of the renovations to this damned place.

"Wow!" he finally managed to breathe out to the relief of Nanna. She had been worried that her Master would be upset at her changing the house without being asked to but it looked like he liked it instead. "This is so much better than anything I could've imagined Nanna!"

A wave of his wand a door appeared in the wall opposite the rainbow. He repeated the same instructions to Nanna about conjuring furniture before leaving to wish goodnight to the girls. He was too late in that regard though; they had already fallen asleep. Harry smiled at the thought of how well the new family was settling after only one day together.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Harry arose bright and refreshed. It was wonderful what a single night of uninterrupted sleep could so for someone. After tending to his morning ablutions, he practically skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was still quite early yet, only 7 am and Kreacher was still in his quarters so Harry set to making pancakes. He was tempted to be a little louder than necessary to wind Kreacher up that he was cooking again but didn't want to make Kreacher feel like he hadn't done his duty (as Kreacher probably would do) and to give the old elf a lie in (because if Harry was tired from Teddy's midnight, 1 am, 2 am , 3 am and 4 am crying fits - _every night_ - then Kreacher would be too). In fact it was only when Harry was halfway through cooking the batter he'd mixed up that Kreacher appeared.

"Master be better giving Kreacher clothes if he be wanting rid of Kreacher," the old elf grumbled whilst sitting at the table. Harry smiled and levitated a cup of coffee over to him with a small plate of rolled lemon pancakes. For all his grumbling and muttering, Kreacher dug in to his breakfast heartily and by the end of his cup of coffee seemed more cheery. Well, for him anyway.

"What is Master's plan for today? Shall Master be taking care of the hellions today?" Kreacher asked waving his hand at the plate of pancakes Harry had finished cooking. Grabbing his own plate and making his way to sit at the other head of the table, Harry replied:

"Gonna get the kids to pick out furniture for their rooms from those catalogues. Then we need to think about clothes and shoes and toys for them. I might go muggle for a bit to get some more stuff. Unbreakable cups for a start," Here Harry ignored Kreacher's incredulous look. "Muggles make them in different colours and then they can each pick and have their own ones," he justified.

"Did Master never study charms?" Kreacher asked in a long-suffering manner. When he died, he best be going to the House Elf equivalent to Paradise because he had certainly earned it.

"Anyway, then I was gonna take a look at the garden with Oakey and see what needs doing and what we could do to make it more appealing, not that that would be too hard from the wilderness it is at the moment. Oh, and I was wondering if you had any ideas for renovating the rest of the house? Nanna did such a good job on the nursery I'm tempted to just let her do the interior design and wave my wand where required." Harry continued ignoring Kreacher.

"Kreacher suggests Master not try his best to scare of new elves so quickly," Kreacher responded whilst his mug and plate moved to the sink to begin washing themselves.

"Do you have any limits on your magic Kreacher?" Harry asked, fascinated as always by the power this old being contained within such a small form.

"Only those given from Master and from age. Not so different from Master," Kreacher said. Perhaps, if he were truly, truly honest to himself, although he would always claim it was because he was sleep deprived; he did actually enjoy the respect shown to him by Harry. In his long life, he had lived through and faced a lot and despite having been taught to defer to humans always, the nature of Harry's personality had changed the traditional Black Elf Bond into something far more symbiotic. He was no longer a slave to the line of Black but more of a trusted companion and helper. Yes there were days, almost every day in fact, where he was yet again called on to explain his Master's own culture to his Master. Or the times when Master's mudblood visited. Those things perhaps Kreacher enjoyed slightly less. But having never had the chance of an elfling he had started to look upon his Master as a kind of child. And there were times, much like this morning or the evening before, where he thought that his Master thought of him as a kind of father figure. It may go completely against his entire upbringing but it still warmed the old elf's heart.

"Limits given by me? Like what? When I give orders?" Harry asked. He was still uncomfortable with the house elf bond and the thought of owning a slave. He didn't want to limit anyone.

"Yes and also by Master's magic core. The size be determining Kreacher's. And by Master's attitude to house elves be limiting what house elves may be doing. Master Harry be having very few limits. Other than Kreacher being using furniture not befitting of Kreacher." Kreacher responded. It was true. His master expressed annoyance every time he called the mudblood, mudblood but he requested and not ordered Kreacher not to, many owners would be far less hesitant to order an elf to do something. In fact if it hadn't been for Kreacher helping to manipulate the magic of the bond the night before then the request for the elves to sit at the dining table would have been just that. It just wasn't in Harry to order anything.

The conversation was stopped from going any further by Hoopy popping in to the room. She was dressed in a long pillowcase and a shawl around her shoulders looking very much like a granny elf. Turning around the squeaked when she saw Harry at the tabled and popped out again. Harry took one look at Kreacher before Kreacher popped out after her. The clock on the mantelpiece chimed half seven when the two popped back in together.

"Morning Hoopy. Breakfast?" Harry asked. She looked at Kreacher who nodded and steered her to the table before putting three of the still warm pancakes on a plate with a wedge of lemon and the bowl of sugar. Setting the plate on front of his fellow elf, he resumed his place at the table with a new mug of coffee. Hoopy looked nervously at her plate and then her new Master. Harry smiled and nodded to her gesturing for her to being eating.

"So what have you got planned today then Kreacher?" Harry said to break the silence.

"Kreacher shall be going grocery shopping after Master has finished this morning. Also Kreacher shall be arranging for new clothes for children and Master. Perhaps Kreacher could suggest Master gets new clothes whilst Muggle shopping?" Kreacher replied. Yes he himself had said not to scare off the new elves but perhaps by showing them how Master expected them to react it would help them find their place more quickly.

"Awesome. I don't need new clothes though Kreach, I've got enough as it is."

"Master be getting new clothes. Kreacher be burning old rags Master calls clothes after."

The strangled gasp from Hoopy reminded Kreacher that she was still at the table. Perhaps he was going too far too soon when showing new elves how his Master behaved…

"Okay well I'll let you burn the ones from the Dursleys. They really are rags. My Weasley jumpers though. I'm keeping those!" Kreacher just nodded. As much as he disliked the blood traitor mother for taking over his house and kitchen, she had at least tried to make up for the _awful _Muggles that his Master had lived with. And Kreacher could hide them on occasions when Master needed something smarter.

"By the way Kreacher, do you remember what I did with those catalogues?" Harry asked as he made the teapot float over to the table. Kreacher may prefer coffee but Harry was a tea person through and through. Kreacher snapped his finger and they appeared on the table next to Harry. Passing them to Hoopy, Harry said: "Have a look through these and pick out some furniture for your room. When the other two come down for breakfast then get them to look as well will you. Thanks!" And with that he grabbed his cup and made his way to the library. Made his way and not ran although if pressed he may refer to it as a strategic retreat.

A/N: Firstly, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favourited or set an alert on these stories. The number has been overwhelming.

Secondly, if anyone can figure out how to sort the formatting out on then I'd love to know. Whatever I try doesn't seem to work.

Finally, sorry for the small chapters. I had 10,000 words completed before I published the first 'chapter' and thought that breaking these down into smaller sections would allow me to give quicker updates and allow easier reading.


	6. Chapter 6

During the time Harry was reading (hiding) in the library, the other elves had joined Kreacher and Hoopy in the kitchen. Kreacher ordered Nanna and Oakey to pick out their furniture from the catalogues too whilst they ate. Once he had their ideas he sent the other three elves off to get the children up whilst he made up more pancakes – after all they did have four growing children to feed. Task completed he too left for the quiet of the library before the kitchen was invaded.

"Elves furniture" Kreacher said placing the catalogues on Harry's lap and hopping onto his chair. Normally he'd never dream of disturbing his Master but when Master was cowardly and hiding from crying elves and doing nothing but playing with cards then Kreacher was hardly disturbing him. Pulling out a sheaf of parchment from the side table next to his chair, he sat down to make a full grocery list.

"They've only picked out beds," Harry said flicking through the catalogues. Unsurprisingly all had gone for more traditional styles that were just miniature versions of adult furniture.

"Elves not be needing more than a place to sleep," Kreacher said offhand whilst he puzzled over what meals he could make that week.

"Don't you have any changes of clothes?" Harry asked drawing Kreacher out of his task to look at him. Harry thought that he looked like Yoda albeit in a pillowcase.

"Kreacher be wearing _pillowcase_" Kreacher said with a look that said 'are you an idiot?' before turning back to his list.

"Hmm," Harry breathed out marking a few more items of furniture to buy. He was about to say more when an owl fell down the fireplace clutching a red envelope. Scooping the owl up, Harry untied the letter before it exploded. Soon Molly Weasley's voice filled the library.

"Ron told me what you've done young man. How could you be so irresponsible? Five children! How could you expect Ginny to marry you when you have SIX children now!"

'Marry Ginny? Was the whole family insane?' Harry thought.

"I mean soon Andromeda will realise that she's left her grandson in the worst hands and take him back but I insist you take the others to the Ministry Orphanage. You are too young to look after children."

'That Bitch!'

"And how dare you turn you floo off to me young man. I waited all night for you to turn it back on and you haven't! You best turn it on so I can come over. If you insist in this farce of looking after six children then you'll need more help than one decrepit house elf so I'll come over and help you. Don't worry about cleaning; I'll sort my room out when I arrive."

'Wait. What?" Harry sat up straighter. 'She's coming here? Moving in here! What?'

"Also we need to talk about you helping Hermione to gander about as she pleases. Australia!"

And with that the letter promptly burst into flames.

"Blood traitor has nasty mouth on her," Kreacher responded not looking up from his work.

"Did that, did that really just happen?" Harry asked shell-shocked.

"Yes."

"So she really said she's coming to stay?"

"Oh." Kreacher looked up. "Shall Kreacher find book on Fidelius Charm quickly?"

"We have one?"

"Somewheres."

"Reckon it would work?"

"Unlikely. Blood traitor is persistant," Kreacher said turning back to the shopping list.

"I can't believe she called you decrepit," Harry said laughing a little.

"I can't believe she thinks yous be marrying her red haired spawn," Kreacher replied.

"Yeah. I think they must all be mad. I mean I dated Ginny for a little while but we broke up a year ago And I wasn't her only boyfriend. And I really want to actually live a little before I do anything else…" Harry trailed off. He knew that Molly had always thought of him as a son and had hoped that he would marry Ginny – she'd hardly hidden that fact. But it was insane how they all seemed determined that it was a definite. He'd only really dated Ginny because 'everyone' knew it was going to happen. He didn't really know her for her though, only as Ron's little sister. And she didn't really know him as Just Harry but her saviour and the Wizarding World's Hero. Besides, if she had been interested in getting back together then she would have made some move in the month. "So, I think its best we leave the floo off for the time being." Harry said at last. Kreacher nodded. It was a good idea.

"Shall Kreacher be respondings that Master is out at the moment but that Kreacher shall be passing message along laters?" Kreacher asked. He had finished his menu for the week so stopping in to wind up the old bag would be an enjoyable excursion on the way to the shops.

"You just wanna get your own back for calling you decrepit," Harry giggled seeing straight through Kreacher's offer. Although he was glad he didn't have to think of a reply to write straight away.

"Kreacher be performing duties. If cookware attacks Kreacher he may be forced to curse one or two to defend himself…" He replied in a dignified manner that didn't match the grin on his face or the tears of laughter running down his audience's cheeks.

"Have fun then. You have to put her reaction in the pensieve later though!" Harry was met with a smile that bordered on feral as Kreacher popped out of existence. Still laughing, Harry made his way down to the kitchen to see if the children were ready yet.


	7. Chapter 7

At least Harry had thought it was the kitchen he was entering. Instead, he seemed to have transported into a warzone. A warzone where the weaponry was foodstuffs… He even stepped out and closed the door before opening it again. Yup, still covered in flour. Covering himself with a low-level _protego_ charm, he entered.

On one side of the room were Octavia and Ursula who were using an overturned bench as a defence. On the other side, Tom and James were using a cupboard doors as shields. The house elves had retreated and stood pressed back against the walls with the babies in their arms. All four combatants were covered from head to toe with evidence of their fight. Ursula's long hair was white from flour. Tom appeared to be covered in eggs. James had what looked like ketchup running down the front of his top whilst Octavia had used the golden syrup on her head to put her hair in a bun so it was no longer in the way as she launched an apple across the room like a tennis ball. Harry had to admit it was an ingenious way of using your enemy's weapons against him.

"Your parents were Death Eater scum!" Tom screamed at Octavia as the apple bounced off his shield and he returned fire with an egg. Of course given that he was only six it came out more as "Your p'rents were deff eater scum!".

Octavia retaliated with a glass of milk given dead on accuracy thanks to, Harry assumed, accidental magic. "Our parents never hurt no one! They died!"

"They were purebloods! All purebloods were death eaters. Death Eaters murdered our parents in Diagon Alley!" James came out with. Harry was shocked at the amount of logical reasoning in his words but when he thought on it, at the age of eight he didn't remember feeling stupid. Quite the opposite, he was very aware of the world and the injustices of it. And Luna, Luna had only been a year older than James when she watched her Mum die. Although he would have to address the fact that James thought all purebloods with Death Eaters. The Weasleys, for all their madness, had fought valiantly against Voldemort. However, in the time that Harry had been musing, the fight had progressed beyond the food remaining in the house and the children were now moving on to the cutlery. Casting a quick shield charm over the boys to deflect the fork that Ursula had thrown, Harry announced his presence.

"STOP!" he shouted. The children immediately did so dropping the projectiles in their hands. The elves jumped as well whilst Harry's loud voice caused Teddy and Arianne to start screaming. "Hoopy, Nanna please see to the babies. Oakey if you could find and inform Kreacher of what occurred, he may need to adjust the shopping list accordingly."

Harry waited whilst the elves popped out to do as ordered. He walked into the middle of the room and picked up a discarded chair. Placing it back on all four feet, he sunk down into it wearily. The four children hadn't moved in this time and were shuffling from foot to foot looking downwards.

"Could you please explain what happened?" he said in a quiet tone. No use shouting at the children; whilst they may certainly know better, he would make them clean the kitchen as punishment and he knew first hand that shouting at them would only incite tempers rather than solve anything – Molly Weasley's 'letter' served as a wonderfully fresh reminder. Unfortunately, all four children took this as an invitation to start shouting at him instead.

"They started it!" cried Ursula. "They said mean things about Mummy and Daddy!"

"Octavia called me a no good half-blood!" Tom shouted with a fury impressive for a six year old.

"Enough!" Harry said firmly before it escalated any further. "You are all responsible for this fight and so you will all be punished. I want you to clean the kitchen. I will get you buckets, soap and sponges. Please try and get it done before dinner or else no one can cook."

With that, he conjured the required materials and set the children to work in different corners of the room. Levitating the cutlery and glassware to the sink, he left them to be cleaned later and sat back down to supervise the children.

A/N: I usually hate ANs but I wanted to apologise to readers. I have struggled to get this chapter how I wanted it, I still don't really like it but I need to get it over with in order to move onwards...


	8. Chapter 8

It was nearing lunchtime by the time the four children had cleaned the kitchen floor and surfaces of the worst of the mess. It had been a quiet morning with all four warriors maintaining an indignant silence. However, all good things must come to an end and at midday, the peace was broken by Kreacher entering to inspect the kitchen.

"Hmm..." he muttered running a wrinkled hand across the worktop and sweeping his eyes across the floor. The four children stood to attention in the centre of the room whilst Harry leant back in his chair. He was quite content to let Kreacher take control of discipline here – the kids needed two parental figures so why not an ageing elf? Well except for the fact that he was ageing and a house elf… At least _he_ had experience with children!

"There will be no more fighting in _my_ kitchen," Kreacher growled out as the children all nodded earnestly in unison. Harry had to crack a smile at the sight of the old elf marching in front like a drill sergeant when he was only as tall as Octavia. "Very good, dismissed. Go get clean"

With that the children scarpered from the room and Harry could hear them scurrying up the stairs to their bedrooms. He lazily stood up.

"So your kitchen, huh?" he teased Kreacher whilst waving his hand over the room and cleaning all the remnants left behind by the somewhat haphazard job.

Kreacher sniffed. "Kreacher's job, Kreacher's kitchen," he said. "Children will bankrupt family with food costs."

"You're changing the subject! Hopefully this'll be the last food fight though. And all six kids can't eat as much as Ron can on a bad day so I think we'll be fine," he laughed. "So, how did it go with Mrs Weasley?"

"Blood Traitor was displeased and wished to let me know. Kreacher may have silenced her in order to deliver his message. Kreacher may also have _forgotten_ to unsilence her when he left."

"I'm so going to pay for that aren't I?"

"Kreacher apologises. Kreacher is old and forgetful." Kreacher's tone was sincere but the smile on his face was anything but. Harry tried not to laugh, even despite the ire he knew he was going to face from Molly and the rest of the redheads. Although George would probably get a laugh out of it. And certainly Fleur would appreciate it as she had never really become close to Molly. "Kreacher be cooking lunch now whilst Master be going shopping."

Harry, taking the hint, saluted Kreacher's back and left the kitchen.

"When you've finished getting clean, can you come to the library please?" he shouted up the stairs to the first floor before heading to the library himself. He dug out another catalogue he had picked up for a toy store and put that with the one the elves had marked their preferred furniture choices in. He didn't have to wait long before the kids all filed in.

"Octavia, Ursula can you look through this catalogue and pick out the furniture you want for you room," he said handing them the book and a pen. "Boys, have a look through this and pick out some toys you like. Just draw a circle around anything you want."

All four children set eagerly to the task. Most of the things in the toy catalogue were circled whilst the girls were a bit quieter. Ursula had picked a pink four poster bed whilst Octavia had chosen a white sleigh bed. Harry guessed he could work with that in a room. When they had finished, he got the kids to swap. The girls were less enthusiastic in their circling but both picked a number of things each. Harry was somewhat unsurprised by the furniture choices of the boys – both went for racing cars.

"Great job guys, I'm going to go out and get that sorted. Please behave for the elves and no more food fights okay? I'm not sure I could afford to keep buying so much food!"

The kids laughed but promised Harry that they would behave. He didn't really trust them alone although he knew that Kreacher would keep them in line whilst he was gone and he could hardly take them with him. It was going to be suspicious enough buying seven new beds without dragging the children in tow.

"I'm off Kreacher," he called into the kitchen. "I'll be back later."

Going shopping was still a novelty for Harry. As a child he had always been left at home and as a teen he was hiding from a homicidal maniac trying to kill him. His first stop was the furniture shop after a subtle glamour to make himself look older. With that ordered, it was off to the toy store. He wasn't gullible enough to buy everything that the boys had circled but bought an equal amount for both. He concentrated mainly on things which would encourage their imagination – dolls, cars and other 'make believe' items. He also bought some board games so that they could play together as a family. There were a few battery operated toys so Harry made sure to stock up on enough batteries. He hoped that there wasn't enough magic in Grimmauld to fry them all and it would give him a project to work on if it did. Arranging for delivery rather than risk being caught on CCTV shrinking his packages, Harry decided he'd spend a bit of time shopping for clothes and generally having a look around. He was torn by the thought of a TV but in the end decided to wait until he knew electrical items would work. Besides, unless he found a way to run electrical things off magic then he'd have to get the house hooked up to the national grid before he could use the TV anyway. He bought some more clothes for everyone including himself before heading to the bookshop.

Having never really had the inclination to look around a bookshop – muddle or wizard – Harry took the time to browse around the store. He started in the children's section and soon had a range of books for all six of the kids as well as a few teen fiction novels for himself. The science fiction and fantasy section made him laugh and he bought a few books that promised dragons and magic for a laugh. The non-fiction section was where Harry bought the most books – an encyclopedia, study guides for muggle courses, learning to read and write workbooks, a DIY manual, books on how electrical items worked and a whole host of other things which he thought might turn out to be useful. He also couldn't resist buying a selection of cookbooks with different cuisines for Kreacher. Paying for his selection, and being unable to get them delivered home, Harry decided to head back to the house and see what chaos had occurred whilst he was out.

Harry returned to the house to find the kids quietly eating lunch in the kitchen. The three new elves were helping their charges but Kreacher was nowhere to be found. Going over to the door to Kreacher's room, Harry knocked three times before the door swung open.

"Bought you a present Kreacher," Harry said handing over a shrunken pile of books. The elf took them carefully and sat them on the side table next to his bed. Harry leant against the door frame as he watched Kreacher resize them and undo the ribbon holding them together.

"Master is too kind to Kreacher" the old elf said breathlessly as he read the titles. He pulled out one on Indian cooking and started to flick through. "Kreacher will be trying out new recipe now."

Harry moved aside as Kreacher tottered over to the pantry and started to float food over to the counter top.

"Master should be back in twenty minutes for lunch,"

Harry took that as a dismissal and left to put the rest of the books in the library.


	9. Chapter 9

Life continued on at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The toys that Harry had ordered arrived the day after his shopping trip and two days after that the furniture was delivered. So far there had been no repercussions to Kreacher's stop at The Burrow although Harry still hadn't opened the floo link back up. The kids had started settling in and even though it had been less than a week since they joined, a routine was starting to develop.

Harry woke up early and helped Kreacher cook breakfast. This morning was porridge with dried berries. Nanna and Hoopy helped the children to eat whilst Harry spent an hour working through the ledgers and responsibilities he had gained when he finally took on the role as head of House Potter. Neville had been writing to him every few days to help him once he had realised no one had told Harry anything of use. Once he had finished with his business responsibilities, Harry made sure to spend time with the children. A small parlour which used to be the lady's drawing room had been quickly converted into a playroom for the kids and a train track now snaked around the whole room. Harry had transfigured one of the engines to look like the Hogwarts Express and animated it so it drove around the track.

Kreacher came to find them all playing loudly and dragged them to lunch. After this Harry helped Oakey in the garden until just before dinner time when the doorbell rang. Wiping off his muddy hands, Harry went to find Nanna greeting Neville and Luna.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed stepping forwards to give both of his friends a hug.

"Hi Harry, we would've been over sooner but we heard you took on a few extra responsibilities so we thought we'd let you settle in a bit before we bothered you," Neville said slapping him on the back as they separated.

"Yes, Ginny was quite amusing describing her mother's displeasure," Luna said drily.

"You should've heard Mrs Weasley's howler to me," Harry replied shaking her head and leading his friends to the kitchen. "You want to stay for dinner?"

"If it's not going to be a bother?" Neville asked.

"Kreacher can we feed two more?" Harry asked the chef who turned to look at the guests.

"As it is Miss Luna and Lord Longbottom it will be no problem. Unlike the bottomless pit with red hair," Kreacher said as he turned back to the stove. Luna, Neville and Harry laughed as they took seats at the table.

"So Mrs Weasley really sent a howler?" Luna asked.

"Yes to ask how I could dare expect poor Ginny to raise all these children when she married me," Harry said before laughing at the faces of his friends. Neville's eyebrows had disappeared somewhere into his hairline whilst Luna's jaw was hanging near her chest.

"She never!" Neville gasped. Harry nodded.

"She did! And that was after I'd told Ron where to shove it when he told me the same thing! I don't know where they got the idea that I was going to marry Ginny though. We had one short fling mostly because it was expected rather than anything else and we split up a year ago. We both agreed that we didn't want to try again," Harry said.

"Well Molly has been telling Ginny she'll be Mrs Potter from when she born. Reading those awful Harry Potter novels and telling her how much she looked like your mum. We all grew up a lot last year but I think Molly finds it hard to let all those dreams for her daughter go," Luna said wisely. "I'm looking forward to hearing Molly's reaction when Ginny tells her that she's joining the Holyhead Harpies!"

The friends shared a laugh as Harry levitated three cans of coke out of the fridge. He had started keeping a selection of muggle drinks just because he could and other than Ron, his friends had grown to like them.

"So how is it going with business Lord Potter?" Neville asked.

"Oh god," Harry said dropping his head to the table, "If it weren't for you Nev, I'd have no idea where to start! It really annoys me that no one thought to tell me that I was heir to this estate before I suddenly get lumbered having to manage it. Between the advice from you and your Gran and the few books that the Blacks had in the library I think I'm just about muddling through but I know that's because Kreacher is picking up the slack when he thinks I'm not looking."

"Master be learning quickly, Kreacher not needing to do too much any more" Kreacher said as he continued cooking.

"I think everyone assumed that someone else had told you and no one wanted to seem like they had overstepped their bounds. If I'd known then I would have said something earlier. I know Gran has said that she wishes she knew so you could've joined me for lessons."

"I know Nev, I'll get there eventually I'm sure," Harry replied.

"Have you heard from Hermione since she left Harry?" Luna asked sipping on her drinking.

"She phoned my mobile phone when she landed but other than that I haven't heard anything. It's quite expensive to call from the other side of the world but if she was in any trouble then she has a Gringotts card linked to my account. Kreacher slipped it in her purse apparently," Harry shrugged.

"Before or after she hugged him?" Luna snickered as the elf in question blushed.

"Ron'll be furious when he finds out even Kreacher has got further with Hermione!" Neville laughed.

"Well he'd get there if he ever takes his head out of his arse. I can't imagine Hermione'll be too quick to forgive him after some of the things he said when she told him she was leaving though," Harry said.

"Oh god I can just imagine what Ronald thought was appropriate," Luna groaned.

"Well he has just lost his brother so he's not really thinking straight," Harry defended.

"That boy _never _thinks straight!" George Weasley said walking into the kitchen. "Hello Harry, Nev, Luna, Kreacher. I'm moving in whilst I escape my mother," he informed them. "If it isn't this insufferable cloying pity and wailing grief, it is complaining about Hermione's wanton ways. When she moved on to how you don't know what you're doing I couldn't take it anymore and we had a bloody good row. Well since I'm getting the silent treatment I might as well do that here where I can spoil your children and be favourite Uncle."

"You're welcome here anytime George," Harry said with a smile. He was pleased that the now lone twin had picked up some colour and seemed to be coming back into himself. He wasn't quite the same, Harry doubted that he ever would be, but certainly there was a life back in him again that had been missing since Fred died.

"Good idea keeping the floo off by the way. As soon as you turn it back on you'll be inundated. Might consider barricading the front door too…"

Harry groaned whilst the others laughed at him.

"So where are your little munchkins? Mother was shouting about six of them or something?"

"Only five. Six including Teddy. There's Tom and James who are brothers. Then Octavia, Ursula and Arriane. It's a full house and you won't get any sleep!"

"You do realise I grew up the middle of seven children, yes? Exactly how much peace and quiet did you ever get at The Burrow Harry?" George laughed. 'Yes,' he thought, 'this is exactly what I need.'

"Then I'm sure they'd love to meet their Uncle George." Harry smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

Dinner that evening was a rowdy affair. Teddy had been delighted to see George again, well as delighted as a six month old could be anyway. Harry thought that changing his hair to Weasley Orange was a sign of appreciation and it was a good almost-laugh that George made when he saw it. Luna had then charmed her hair the same which broke the ice between her and James who had requested the same thing. Arriane was more interested in eating Neville's hair than anything else whilst the other two girls were a little more wary. By the time Kreacher was levitating pudding to the table though, they were laughing along at George's antics.

When dinner was done, Neville and Luna took their leave whilst Harry and George washed the dishes. The kids were being bathed upstairs and Kreacher was sat at the kitchen table looking over his meal plan for the next week.

"Is it really that bad back home?" Harry asked in the quiet kitchen.

"Yeah a bit," George admitted taking a plate from Harry and drying it. He could've used magic – at The Burrow he would've been expected to – but doing it manually was relaxing in a way. "It's not really home anymore I s'pose. Fred and I," his voice shook but he continued. "We'd moved out and we'd made the flat home. And there are so many memories. I mean even here there are memories but not as many as anywhere else. And I don't want complete quiet. I just want to live you know? Fred would've wanted that. And if it had been me that died and Fred was here then I would've told him to do the same. I have to live for both of us now. And I can't do that in a house that is nearly silent with people who don't know how to treat me and tiptoe around me in case they say the wrong thing," George took a deep breath and lowered his voice down a notch. "Fred is dead and he's never coming back. Nothing is going to change that so I just have to look forward. Plus seriously, six kids Harry? I know Kreacher could keep sixty in line if he needed to," George tipped his head to the elf who waved a hand imperiously, "but mate you've only got two hands. You'll never be able to take all that lot shopping or to the park or on day trips anywhere!"

"Well you're welcome here as long as you want and as long as you need. Teddy won't be shipping off to Hogwarts for another ten years so…" Harry squealed as George flicked the tea towel at him and retaliated by flinging water back at him. It would've turned into all out war if Kreacher hadn't coughed pointedly.

"Sorry Kreacher," both young men muttered looking chastised before giggling. Kreacher rolled his eyes. Eight children in the house to look after!

Finishing up with the dishes, Harry pulled three cans of coke from the fridge before joining Kreacher and George at the table.

"So what culinary delights have you got planned for us next week Kreach?" George asked popping open his can.

"Chicken tikka masala," the old elf replied promptly.

"That'll be the second time in a week!" Harry laughed. He had bought some cookbooks for Kreacher as a present when he had picked up muggle clothes, toys and books for the kids earlier in the week.

"Kreacher likes it," the elf grumbled.

"It's good. Best food ever I reckon," George agreed. Trying out muggle fast food restaurants had been a favourite activity for him and Fred after a busy day in the shop. There was so much choice in the other world. Clothes and music too.

"Since George is here, I was thinking I might move my room upstairs too and then we can convert the whole of the first floor for the kids. They're going to need a school room or something and eventually they'll each want their own bedrooms." Harry said.

"You mean you want Teddy out of your room?" George asked.

"Wait 'til you see upstairs," Harry grinned. "Nanna had the rooms rearranged and redecorated as soon as she got here. It's amazing! I'm going to rope the elves in to renovate this place. You're gonna help too whilst you're here sponging off me," he teased, squealing as George got him in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles over Harry's perpetually messy hair.

"Master suggested an adults floor but Kreacher be confused who be sleeping there," the elf said sarcastically.

"Well you'll definitely have to have a room," Harry shot back with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, the biggest one definitely!" George said resting his chin on Harry's shoulder as he stood behind him.

Kreacher glared. Master didn't need ideas!

"We really need to sit down and work out what we're going to do with the kids actually. Who knows how long it'll take the Ministry to sort out this mess so we best assume we've got them indefinitely. It's only been a week and I think we've managed to get the basics sorted but what about schooling? All the kids are old enough for infant school in the muggle world but enrolling them in the local primary school would raise too many questions. Is there a wizarding equivalent?" Harry said settling down next to Kreacher whilst George sat on the opposite side of the table.

"There's a small school in Hogsmeade and another in Godric's Hollow. Well there was, I don't know if they survived the war. Otherwise we could hire a tutor maybe?" George said. "Mum taught us at home but I don't think we want to ask her anytime soon..."

Harry flinched. Yeah, asking Mrs Weasley for any favours was going to be a bad idea.

"Kreacher be asking other elves when he be shopping. But Master can be leaving children with other elves whilst he and Master George work on house," Kreacher hinted not-so-subtly. "Master be having a life too."

Two days later the first tutor that Kreacher had hired arrived on the doorstep.

"Andy? It's nice to meet you," Harry greeted the stunned man. All the dealings had been through Kreacher so Andy had no idea he was going to be working for Harry Potter.

"Mr Potter, it's an honour," he said stepping into the old house.

"Sorry it's a bit grim in here. I'm working to try and renovate it but it's slow going. If you want to come through to the kitchen we can sit and talk and then you can meet the kids,"

Andy was a tall, 30-something man. He had a gentle look about him and reminded Harry of a younger Remus.

"Your representative said there were four children Mr Potter?" Andy said getting down to business. And he was curious why the Hero of the Wizarding World had four children that needed teaching.

"Yeah. Tom is eight, Octavia seven, James is six and then Ursula is four. I have no idea what level they're at I'm afraid. They were brought in when I went to register guardianship of my godson and there was nowhere for them to go so I took them on. It's not like I'm lacking in space here in this house..." Harry explained as he opened the door and let Andy into the kitchen. "Please have a seat. I'm not sure exactly what they went through since the war ended and they were found. They've only been with me a week so we're still getting to know one another but I'd like to establish a routine and given that Tom only has three years before Hogwarts then schooling needs to be part of that. Tea?"

Andy blinked a few times as he processed the information Harry had given him before realising Harry had asked him a question.

"Oh, yes please. White with two sugars thanks."

Kreacher, who had been waiting by the cooker until now, levitated over a teapot and two cups. This was soon joined by a third when Harry waved his wand at the cupboard. Kreacher restrained himself from rolling his eyes but only just, something Harry smirked at even whilst the tutor was oblivious.

"This is Kreacher," Harry said as he poured tea into the three cups. Kreacher had to struggle to climb on to the bench - Harry had resized them in deference to having an adult guest. "He was the one who hired you on my behalf. He'll be joining us today." The tone in Harry's voice dared Andy to make a comment about a lowly house elf sitting at a table and sharing refreshments with them. Andy hadn't become a tutor because he was stupid though and whatever his personal thoughts, he kept his tongue.

"So I mostly deal with magical subjects. Basic potions, arithmency, runes. That sort of thing. Were there any specific lessons you wanted me to focus on?" Andy started.

"No whatever you think is best. I grew up with Muggle guardians so I missed all of this. I don't suppose you take on adult students too do you?" Harry joked. Andy smiled.

"Well I can provide all the materials and books for the children. Is there a room set up for teaching them? Do you have any other tutors arranged yet?"

"We have a room lined up but haven't converted it yet. It won't take long for it to be ready though. We haven't found any other tutors yet although Kreacher is looking."

"Tutors be needing to be discreet and good. Hard to find ones that be both that and have free time," Kreacher said as he sipped his tea. He'd picked Andy from a long, long list of recommendations other elves had given him. He'd been one of Kreacher's top picks because almost every elf had included him in their list. Kreacher was very thankful he was available because he did in fact also take adult classes and Kreacher wasn't just thinking of his young children.

"Might I suggest someone? She's a squib but I suspect that won't be a problem for you?" Andy asked. Harry shook his head. "Miss Grant taught me both magical and muggle history when I was younger before she retired. Her husband died at the beginning of the year, a heart problem or something, he was a muggle, and she's been looking for students to give her something to do with her free time now. She might even be willing to take other subjects if you asked her," Andy offered.

Harry shared a look with Kreacher and Andy could tell they were having a conversation without words. As a pureblood he'd grown up around elves, not in his family but his friends had had one or two. The elves certainly hadn't been mistreated but they weren't considered family members and invited to sit at the table in a conversation either. They definitely weren't as close and obviously respected as this elf was to Harry. And anyone that could gain the respect of Harry Potter was obviously a being worth respecting.

"That would be great thanks," Harry said once they'd finished their silent discussion. Well, unspoken discussion - it appeared that house elves were capable of telepathic conversation much like legimency. Yet another reason Harry was never going to piss Kreacher off! "What days would you be able to do Andy, and then I'll take you up to meet the kids?"

AN: I am in need of a beta for this story. Any offerers please PM me.


	11. Chapter 11

That afternoon found Harry, George and Oakey stood on the landing of the second floor. For the last three days George had been half camping in one of the rooms. The linens were clean but the room itself was rather gloomy. Since the kids were busy doing a trial session with Andy under the watchful eye and twitchy fingers of Kreacher, it seemed like the perfect time for a bit of home renovation. Currently there were two large rooms and a bathroom one side of the corridor whilst the other side had one large and two small rooms as well as the stairs leading up to the attic.

"So if we each take a large room on this side to decorate?" George nodded before heading off to the room on the other side of the bathroom down the hall.

Stepping into the large room nearest the stairs, Harry looked around critically. There were three tall Georgian windows opposite the door that flooded the room with light. A fireplace was on the left hand wall. The furniture had already been removed by Kreacher who had placed the valuable antiques into storage and burnt the rest. Even so the room was oppressive and dark. The exposed wooden floor stained black with age and the walls lined with a dark green silk that had faded from the sun in places.

"So what do you reckon Oakey?" Harry asked the elf who had followed him in. "I think putting the bed on this wall facing the windows might be best." Harry took a garden stone from his pocket which he transfigured into a basic bed frame and levitated into position.

"Master be wanting a closet for clothes. Perhaps that wall," Oakey suggested pointing to the wall opposite the fireplace. Harry tilted his head. He didn't have enough clothes now but Kreacher did seem determined to change that. A wall of wardrobes like Vernon and Petunia had had would sit nicely on the wall. Another stone was transfigured into a crude representation whilst two more became bedside tables. Harry couldn't think of anything else he'd really need so now it was down to decorating.

"I was thinking navy blue and cream for the colours. Maybe a cream carpet with dark blue walls?" Harry suggested to Oakey who nodded and squinted his eyes in concentration. A snap of his fingers and the faded walls turned into blue wallpaper with subtle stripes to give it texture.

"Nice work Oakey. Love the stripes," Harry complimented him. Oakey was quite surprised at how well it had turned out. He'd come from Hogwarts where the magic seemed nearly unlimited so he was expecting it to be more difficult to cast whilst bonded to Harry but if anything it was easier. His master was a very powerful wizard, quite easily the most powerful, but had no idea of that power. He understood exactly why Dobby had been so enamoured with this boy. He'd have to talk to Hoopy and find out what she thought. First though, carpet.

Kreacher was impressed by Andy. Beyond a raised eyebrow he'd shown no outward sign of surprise or discomfort at how Harry ran the household. On top of this he was excellent at gaining the trust of all four children and was slowly feeling out what level they were at in various subjects. If his Miss Grant was as good as him then there would be no problems. That meant that Kreacher could start in on his other projects.

Harry had started to take on more responsibility for his accounts and didn't need quite as much help anymore but he was still nearly clueless at how the magical world ran. Little things like Gringotts doing cards or where to buy clothes completely passed him by. He had no idea of his power, both literally and politically and no idea how to wield it effectively. He was young certainly and not altogether clueless of people exploiting him but that was a far cry from being able to actively use what he had to his best advantage. Kreacher often wondered if Harry would've been better off in Slytherin where he would have learnt these skills. Kreacher was hopeful that George would help though.

George was another one of Kreacher's projects. At the beginning Kreacher would admit he had been concerned about how the dynamic in the family would shift, he was beginning to get accustomed to Harry's ways and he didn't really want to be subservient. Happily though, George had never once ordered anything from Kreacher and when Harry had continued their evening talks, George had joined in and seemed interested in what Kreacher had had to say. If Kreacher could convince George and Harry to continue with the joke shop they owned then it would give them both purpose, get them away from the children and encourage them both to continue learning and growing as individuals. They were all long term goals though. Right now he'd just be pleased if they actually got out the house once in a while!

George had finished his room – a tasteful red and gold – and left in search of Harry. George found him in one of the small rooms along the corridor discussing what it should be with Oakey.

"A spare bedroom?" George suggested.

"I made the other small room a spare bedroom. Maybe this should be an office cum potions lab cum no children allowed room? I know I've got my study off the library but I'm not keen on brewing in there with all my paperwork and if the kids are here then I can't brew in the kitchen anymore," Harry suggested.

"Perhaps this should be a second bedroom and the big room should be your lab space then? Fred and I had as many expansion charms as we could get on our room in the flat,"

"That sounds sensible actually. Oakey you up for that?" Harry asked. Oakey nodded and waved his hands. Instantly the room was turned into a dark mint green with lighter accents.

"That was quick!" George said in awe. "Maybe I should get some elves in the shop to help make stuff…"

"Is the shop doing well enough to hire help?" Harry asked.

"Well it was before you know, last year. I suppose you probably never looked at your statements to see,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you own a third of the business mate. We've been paying you a third of the profits and it is a tidy sum. We lost all the stock in the shop but if I start now and we take on some helpers then it might be possible to get back in business before the new school term. Our biggest sales time is the last few weeks of august so we'd have three weeks…" George trailed off as he was working out possibilities in his head. Harry and Oakey left him to it and set themselves to turning the other room into an experiment room. Something told Harry that George would be in here more than anywhere else!


	12. Chapter 12

Harry and Kreacher were sat in front of the fire in the library. The house was quiet; the children in bed, the other elves busy entertaining themselves or whatever it was they did – Harry made a note to ask – and George was happily tinkering in the newly created Laboratory of Doom as Kreacher had dubbed it at dinner time.

The kids had all been excited and happy at dinner time, telling Harry all about Andy and the lessons he had taught them that afternoon. Ursula had done a drawing she wanted to show off and it now had pride of place on the fridge. Harry smiled as he looked into the fireplace. Just a few short months ago he'd been fighting for his life, literally. Now the house was starting to come together and it was filled with warmth and laughter. He thought that Sirius and Remus would be proud of what he was doing, even if there were others who weren't.

The floo connection had been reopened that morning in case Andy had chosen to use it but nothing had come through from the Weasley family yet. Neither had they bothered to come around to his door. There were no wards hiding it from view anymore so there was nothing stopping them and he knew George was a little hurt by it. And even if the floo had been blocked, no owls had come either.

"So what do you think of George's plan to hire some elves to work on products for the shop?" Harry asked Kreacher.

"Good plan but he not be finding many who take pay," Kreacher said. George had 'done a Harry' and told Kreacher about his ideas earlier before he had gone off the experiment after dinner. Kreacher had been thinking it over since then. "Kreacher suggests Master be converting attic space and be bonding with new elves to work at shop stuff."

"Why not George? It's George's shop," Harry asked stretching out on the couch and turning his head to look at Kreacher in his chair.

"Both your shop," Kreacher said. "And Master be having more power, less limits. Oakey be finding that today too. Oakey mentioning it as we make dinner tonight. Master be most powerful wizard in Britain."

"Now you sound like Dobby," Harry said.

"Dobby be right. Master is most powerful. It be good thing for elves bonded to Master."

"Yeah about that. You and me did that mumbo-jumbo ceremony thing to bond but I didn't for the new ones. Why?" Harry asked.

"Kreacher be Master's main elf so new elves be bonding to Master through Kreacher. Means Kreacher can manipulate bond to serve Master's will when he doesn't," Kreacher explained. This one he couldn't fault Harry for not knowing as Kreacher doubted any human did. Most were simply accepting of the fact that they had new elves, they didn't care how that came about. It wasn't quite taboo to tell their human masters but certainly it wasn't encouraged. Still Kreacher wasn't going to hold back anything from Harry. "Master be making requests more than orders and Kreacher be knowing when Master is meaning it as a must do and when Master is being polite. When Master be asking a must do but isn't putting power into the bond, Kreacher be putting power into the bond to be making it a must do. Master understand?"

"Yeah sort of. So I'm not forceful enough and so the bond magic doesn't pick up my orders as actual orders?" Harry said. Lord knows Kreacher had complained enough about Harry being too kind and too nice that it made sense.

"Yes. No humans be knowing that elves can be doing this though. But without it then big households of elves would need lots of orders. This way one elf be organising and leaving Master or Mistress alone," Kreacher finished explaining. For his appalling academic results at least his sweet and yet irritatingly naïve Master was surprisingly intelligent and did pick up on things quickly so Kreacher usually only had to explain things once or just confirm that Harry had filled in the gaps correctly.

"That makes sense," Harry said and fell quiet again. The flames crackled in the fireplace and Kreacher took a sip of his Butterbeer. "Where do baby elves come from?"

Kreacher's Butterbeer decorated the carpet and he coughed. Waving a hand to clear the mess as he tried to breathe again, Kreacher took back all the positive thoughts he'd had.

"Sorry Kreach that was bad timing," Harry blushed. Kreacher glared.

"Master be knowing of the birds and the bees, yes?" Kreacher said inwardly pleading to every deity he knew of. The Blacks had been an Old Family and worshiped the Roman gods so Kreacher knew a fair number.

"Yes but I mean how long is a house elf pregnant for and do they get married or what?" Harry said trying to explain but still a dark red. Kreacher sighed. This was going to go down worse than the Elf Store.

"House elves be slaves," he started holding up a hand when Harry tried to protest. "In good households they be treated good and have more freedom but they still be slaves. Unless a Master give permission then a house elf cannot have baby elfling, it be physically impossible. Master may also be telling two elves to be having a baby and so they must." Kreacher groaned. Harry's face was one of complete outrage and he spluttered. Kreacher held up his hand again to cut him off. "It not be good but many elves be knowing it is the way of things so they be doing it. Kreacher's mother and father be doing that because they be told to by family."

"But what if you fall in love?" Harry asked wide eyed.

"Some elves be falling in love but Master must be remembering that many elves not be like Dobby. Master be thinking of Winky. Elves be brought up that family be coming before all else. Maybe in a good family then Master or Mistress be letting elves that fall in love be together to make elflings,"

"So what happens then? Once two elves have been forced or given permission to have a baby. I mean like not on the night but do elflings just shazaam and there's an elfling or is the lady elf pregnant or what?"

"Shazaam?" Kreacher raised an eyebrow. Harry shrugged somewhat sheepishly, it had been the first word to pop in his head. "Elf be pregnant for three months and then have baby elfling. Elfling be able to work by three months old and be considered an elf at one year and be able to have own elflings at two years. Elves can live to be forty years old if in a good powerful family."

"And you're thirty six," Harry said, Kreacher's aged state finally dawning on him. "And for ten years you had very little power to draw from…" Harry didn't want to continue that thought.

Kreacher shrugged his shoulder and had another sip of Butterbeer. Not too long ago he had been looking forward to dying so he could have his head on the wall with his family. Now he wasn't because he had a purpose and respect but at the same time he had made peace with the likelihood of his impending death.

"Kreacher be living long life by elf standards and as Kreacher is saying early, Master is most powerful wizard in Britain, maybe the world. Elf life tied in to Master's power and how much power Master be allowing elves to draw on. Master Harry is the best of Masters and be letting Kreacher draw on _all_ his power if Kreacher is wanting or needing to. Kreacher may live to be eldest house elf ever," the old elf comforted the teenager.

"I don't want you to die Kreacher," Harry sniffed hugging his knees to his chest. He'd already lost two father figures in the past few years. The thought that Kreacher might go at any time was heart breaking. "You're not allowed to die, that's an order."

And it was. For the first time Harry could feel his magic, feel the bond he shared with Kreacher, feel his order become a fact.

"Kreacher's body not be dying because Master's order but Kreacher not necessarily able to live either. Master must prepare for that," Kreacher said as he felt the magic settle in his bones. "But Kreacher not planning on going for long time yet. And as Kreacher is saying, Master might help Kreacher be very old elf yet."

Harry nodded but still looked upset so Kreacher stood from his chair and walked over to the sofa where Harry had curled up. Sitting on the seat beside him Kreacher put his short arms as far around Harry's waist as he could. Harry rested his cheek on Kreacher's head.

"Good," Harry snuffled before sitting up again and drying his eyes with his sleeve. "So were you never given permission to have an elfling?"

"No and then Kreacher had no one to have an elfling with."

"So you've never been in love?" Harry asked.

"Well, Kreacher did have feelings for one elf. She be very pretty but she be having bad thoughts as Kreacher thought then so Kreacher be leaving her. Now Kreacher be seeing that she be saying good things but Kreacher be having bad family give him bad thoughts," Kreacher said a little sadly.

"When was this?"

"When Master Sirius be in Azkaban and Kreacher be alone in this house. About twelve years ago. Kreacher not know if she still be alive. She be talking about breaking with her family but she not be in Hogwarts so Kreacher not knowing what happened to her,"

"What was her name? Maybe she's at the elf shop? You could find her and then if you wanted to have an elfling or get married then you could. I'd give permission," Harry said excitedly.

"Kreacher be saying mean things to Pippy. Pippy be unlikely to want to speak to Kreacher again," Kreacher said firmly. "And elves not be getting married like muggles be doing. We be bonding like wizards is doing. But only if Master gives permission."

"I give my permission for all my elves to get bonded if they want. You can have elflings too," Harry said firmly. Kreacher smiled. Harry was a kind boy. He'd have to make sure Nanna knew she could get pregnant in case she had a partner he didn't know about. Hoopy was too old. "Do I need to tell the others? If they fall in love with someone then maybe they can join this family so they don't have to live apart."

"Kreacher be telling them for Master. Kreacher thinks new elves is settling in very well but maybe not yet enough for Master to be saying that to them. Also Kreacher probably not meant to be telling Master. Elf secret!" Kreacher explained to Harry. The old elf knew Harry meant well but he wasn't exactly sure how Harry would break the news and if Kreacher had to deal with either Nanna or Hoopy crying again then he'd quit.

"I'm curious though. I can bond with you and I can break the bond by giving clothes. Why can't you break the bond?"

"It is not just giving clothes that is breaking the bond. It is tradition to give clothes but it is more Master's intention that is breaking the bond. Elves be slaves and this be condition of traditional bond. Master gives elves magic and elves be needing magic to live. Elves be working for Masters in exchange. Dobby be violating bond and twisting it to leave. Master Harry is not having traditional bond. Kreacher free to leave any time," he informed Harry. Harry thought he was perhaps a little too smug with how he said it.

"And the others?"

"Kreacher be controlling bond so they cannot be breaking it. Kreacher waiting for them to be settled before too many big shocks,"

"I'm useless at all this stuff aren't I?" Harry asked. Kreacher nodded solemnly causing Harry to snort with laughter. "I hate the thought of owning you or bossing you around. You're people with thoughts and feelings."

"Kreacher know. That be why Kreacher loves you and why Dobby loved you. Master is the best," Kreacher shrugged. There wasn't really much more he could say. Harry was the best person, _being_, he had ever met. Harry was caring, kind and respected everyone regardless of their species. Kreacher was proud of him and the man that he was becoming.

"Thanks Kreacher. I love you too," Harry hugged the old elf. "You know that slavery was abolished in the muggle world hundreds of years ago?"

"Human slavery banned here many years ago too. But wizards be seeing house elves as creatures. Be seeing Goblins too!" Kreacher pointed out.

"Yeah and that's gone so well for them…" Harry said thinking of all the Goblin Rebellions that Binns had bored him with. "Maybe there should be a house elf rebellion?"

"Where we is not polishing the silverware?" Kreacher drawled sarcastically making Harry laugh. Yeah, a house elf rebellion probably wouldn't be quite as fearsome as a goblin one. Although the Death Eaters had found out what formidable foes they made in the Battle of Hogwarts.

"Master's birthday in four days. We is having a party?" Kreacher asked changing the subject away from elven culture and politics.

"Umm. Maybe a small one? Just Nev and Luna. And Ginny if she's as exasperated as George is. Bill and Fleur perhaps. Hermione won't be back so that's out. Andromeda if she wants to come. McGonagall too maybe? I need to talk to her actually and make sure the kids are signed up for Hogwarts," Harry said scratching his head.

"Tomorrow Master be writing invites to people he wants at party and Kreacher be delivering them. Then Kreacher be knowing how many he be cooking for. Now though Kreacher be going to bed," Kreacher said sliding off the sofa and stretching his old bones out.

"Night Kreacher," Harry said laying back down along the sofa again. He had a lot to think about so he'd stay here for the time being. "Sweet dreams."

Kreacher waved a hand goodbye as he popped out the room. Downstairs he climbed into the bed that Harry had insisted on buying him and cast a gaze around the room. Slowly he was starting to accumulate possessions. A shelf with his cookbooks, Regulus' locket and a few other odds and ends. He smiled wide before settling in to sleep.

AN: So I have no real idea about where this come from other than the fact that I was doing research into religious cults recently... Also, as I've said before, I don't have a beta reader so whilst I do give it a read through to try and pick up any obvious errors I am always grateful when things are pointed out in reviews.


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